Does anyone here catch very many redears on the fly? I've been looking into a few places that have them stocked here in Kansas, but have never specifically targeted them. Anyone got some tips?
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Does anyone here catch very many redears on the fly? I've been looking into a few places that have them stocked here in Kansas, but have never specifically targeted them. Anyone got some tips?
Zac,
I catch quite a few redears in Lake Pawhuska on the same flies that I use for bluegills. Jim Hatch told me that the redears where he fishes in South Carolina hit scuds better than the flies that he uses for bluegill, so that may be worth a try.
Steve
They are on my list, Zac! I caught something this year that was either a female redear, or a hybrid redear... still looking for a bonafide pure redear.
I've heard small nymph or scud patterns under indicators near the bottom work well. Obviously the spawning season would be the best time to find them in a predictable, accessible location (in the shallows near shore), otherwise, they are often in deeper water. Later in the season, look near the deep side of weed eges.
In the archived panfish articles on FAOL, there was a guy (his name escapes me at the moment) who would fly fish from a canoe (not Rick Z), and catch redears mixed in with the bluegills... even on dry flies.
I catch a lot of them in WV and are a blast. They have beautiful colors on them when spawning.
That somebody Dave, was/is Joe Hyde.
Thanks for the tips so far. I caught my first few redears last year while fishing with some FAOL folks, while we were catching gills.
Steve, I was thinking that little woven nymph or something similar might be pretty good. I'll have to tie up some scuds and try 'em out!
Zac
Down here we tend to lump them into the general class of "Bream" which is mostly bluegills and redear, better known as shellcrackers. I have a friend who is mostly a cricket drowner who tells me using worms redears tend to take the bait much slower than bluegill do. My old standby is a bream killer under some type of dry bug, usually a popper or foam grasshopper. The Bream Killer is the model of simplicity. No. 8, or smaller aberdeen hook. Chennille of choice, black, brown, yellow & black full length of shank. Usually 2 sets of rubber legs each side resulting in 8 total, squirrel tail wing. If I slip a little lead wire on the hook for deeper holes, I try to remember to add a tail of some type to add a visual difference. So many of the bedding area are so shallow I usually fish it without weight. Like this
Attachment 7389
This is what I use. I toss these and strip very slow. I always know when I have a red ear on because they zig-zag when you fight them!
Zac
There is a spot on the Duck River where a warm stream from a hatchery flows in so you can catch trout on one side of the river and Bream on the other (Blue Gills. Black Perch and Shell Crackers).
A Shell Cracker can actually work it's jaws in a grinding motion to "Crack Shells", the bottom of the Duck show a great deal of evidence to this respect.
I catch quite a few around here on slow sinking flies like Bream Killers and Briminators. Though they are supposed to mainly be lower water column dwellers we've also caught several in the surface film and on top. They are some of my favorite fish to catch - feisty and strong.
I've not caught one on a fly, but I have on a 1/80 glow ice jig tipped with a wax worm if that's any help? They bite slowly and most often it's an ''up bite'' so th slip bobber goes up or even tips.
My best redears in Louisiana came it cypress areas on black woolly buggers... Sorry I know that ya' don't have any waters like that in Kansas..
I catch them on the same poppers I use for bluegills.
aged sage
I probably catch more RedEar (also called Shellcracker or Stumpknockers down here in Georgia) than any other variety of Bream. I love them because they grow so large (my personal best is 15 inches) and because they fight so hard. Without question, my best producer is an all black leech tied on a size 10 hook fished along deep (4-5 feet) banks lined with overhanging brush.
Jim Smith
Hi Zac,
When spawning, they do take poppers. Joe Hyde used to catch them on a #10 gold ribbed hares ear flash back in Kansas. (Look through the archives.) One of my better flies for them has been a damsel fly nymph, if memory serves correctly.
Regards,
Gandolf
Up north of you there Quivira I really like to use a snail flyof some sort.... spun deer hair or cheneile ith plenty of lead to get them down deep. Nymphs work well also but I have had my best luck on snails. Caught a 13" on a hopper about three years ago in the fall.... was an outstanding fish for sure.
Steve
This is my best shot at a snail pattern, what does yours look like? This is a tapered strip of craft foam with a split shot in the middle (make a hole in the foam to hold it) coiled up with super glue I suppose to hold it in place on a No. 10 hook. Mono eyes. This one still want to float should they go deep of float below the surface?
Attachment 7450
There's a reason they call them shellcrackers in the south. As some of you have already figured out, they are death on mollusks and scuds and the like, which means once the water warms up and they leave their spawning areas they will be near the bottom or tucked in the weeds (or both). Around here they also tend to be in deeper water than the gills in the summer. They'll take topwater flies on those occasions when they are in shallow water or (even rarer) near the surface over deeper water, but you'll do better if you keep a nymph, scud, really small crayfish or the like near the bottom around structure of some kind.
Bluegill222, I agree with you wholeheartedly. You might add that when tying for shellcrackers, flies should be cheap and fast to tie. The combination of deep, often darkly colored water and structure makes hanging up and loosing flies just a part of the game.
Jack, is "Charlie" the tree still just downstream of the stump? There's shellcracker and bluegill habitat, first class. :)
Ed
You are dead on about the mollusk, snails and crayfish. Several years ago when the new world record was set at Santee Cooper Lake there was a condition that allow a formerly unknown growth of an Asiatic shellfish the redears pigged out on resulting in the new record. There was talk of the possibility of a 6 lb. redear being possible. 5 lbs. 7.5 ozs.
Attachment 7469
That is a HUGE fish.
Going bream fishing in the morning....I hope to post a few pics of shell crackers...
No red ears today. just copper nose and blue gills
To my knowledge, I've never caught a coppernose - that's one I'd really like to catch. Sounds like a good day regardless.
i posted pictures at the bottom of my warmer weather in mississippi thread
Zac, I was bass fishing Cowley last spring ad came across a huge spawning bed of redears, but they were completely gone by the following weekend. I guess they get in, get it done and get out. A lot of folks target them there though.
man you guys spend a lot of time and effort catching musky and walleye bait! ;-) ok so do I! :-D
I don't know Mr. Gay, but he might take exception to calling his fish bait.
Attachment 7485
Tongue in cheek there U.J. ;-);-);-)
I would be pleased as punch with that catch but compared to this it's bait:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...y/IMGP0403.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...y/IMGP0405.jpg
Now don't go gettin your dander up cause I'm just funnin ya! :-D
Here is my FAOl post on that red ear, bream, blue gill, trout, bass, perch, crappie and perhaps human eating monster:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...s-Tiger-Muskie!!!!
I bought a couple of fiberglass fly rods rcently that I love catching red ears (once considered an invasive species here in Penns Woods) and all other manner of blue gills with.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/i...isc/pencil.png
Nice gar. Chopped up it would make real good fish bait! ;-) :-D 8-) I know how you guys do it down there in Mississippi. First you catch a big red ear on these flies they are talking about here but you don't release it. You leave the red ear on to catch a tiger musky that you leave on to catch the gar. Fly bait fishing, L.o.L.!
Now what was this post originally about? Oh yeah flies to catch bait fish, ah I mean red ears! ;-);-);-):-D:-D:-D8-)
this was the last of the blue gill family I was able to catch on a fly due to my health:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...y/IMGP0949.jpg
Not a monster, sure was fun though. Hopefully I will be able to catch many more when the neurosurgeon gets done with me. I do catch gills and the occasional red ear on griffiths gnats, mosquitoes, pheasant tail nymphs, wax worms, meal worms, Al's crappy candy and live fat head minnows under a slip bobber.
Tongue in cheeks all around Eric. If you live or grow up in Mississippi trout are not an option, unless you want to talk speckled trout, cypress trout or green trout. The last two depending on where you are may be bowfin or bass. Gar frequently considered a curse although there is a group trying to save them as a game fish. The folks down in LA grind up the gar and cook them as gar balls. But there's not many things they can't make taste good.
You can dig a hole about anywhere in Mississippi without too much of a concern about hitting rock so there are thousands of farm ponds, what Texans call tanks, across the state. I have never heard of one that did not have fish in it. I remember at one time the state record LMB for MS, AL, LA all were caught in private ponds in the month of February. If you come up to a farmer, decently dressed, with your hat on straight, ask may I please; Yes sir, I'll close all the gates; Thank you and No Ma'am I wouldn't care for anything to drink. And alway ask "Would you like a mess of fish if I catch some? I'd be happy to clean you a mess." You have good chance of getting permission to fish in a pond. If you catch them after church Sunday morning your chances go way up.
I catch redears in the river all the time. They really like small crawfish patterns, small Wooly Buggers, and a new fly I started tying based on the saltwater Gotcha pattern, tied on a #10 hook. I caught over a dozen yesterday on these micro Gotchas in hot pink.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...terGotcha3.jpg
This color works good, too, but it's better for crappie.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...icroGotcha.jpg
Oh, I forgot. Here is probably my best fly for redears. A Catalpa Worm.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...paWorm2004.jpg
Gig, as you undoubtedly know there is no better live bait in the South than a catalpa worm. I am sure there is a scent given off by natural worms because they are about as good frozen as live. Of course, there are many stories of a wife taken a freezer box full of catalpa worms thinking they are green beans dumping them into a boiler full of water only to discover the ugly truth when the lid is removed several minutes later. So guys if you save up a box of catalpa worms, mark the box well.
Ahhhh, Catalpa worms... a lot of Catalpa trees have been planted in the South to provide bait for bluegills and other bream. :)
Ed
Ed note: I have a little trrouble believing Uncle Jesse's greenbean admonition. Frozen green beans are olive drab in color... ;)
Ed, I didn't say they were true stories, but I have heard virtually the same tales told from many different people miles apart. I have heard it from so many people that I kind of figure it happened at least once somewhere. I have used frozen catalpa for catfish but it's been years and I could swear what color they were.
When I use the catalpa fly, I dip it in Strike King Catalpa Worm Paste. Then it smells like a catalpa worm.
The paste it pretty thick out of the tube, so as soon as I get a new tube home, I squeeze it out into a glass jar, and add fish oil, or cottonseed oil to it, and stir well, until it is a semi-thin liquid. Then I just put the lid on it and keep it in the fridge. I dip the fly in it it about every 10th cast.